Ghost
by marie0912
Summary: Won 1.st place in The Sandbox "Things That Go Bump In The Night"- Contest: When Bellas mother died, she used the insurance money Renee left her to buy a home. But there seems to be someone in her apartment already. And he does not enjoy her company.


**The Sandbox Presents: Things That Go Bump in the Night**

**Author: marie0912**

**Story Title: Ghost.**

**Rating: M**

**Vamp or Human: Human. (sort of... ;)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Twilight, they all belong to Stephenie Meyer. I do, however, own this plot!**

**Please visit the Bump C2 to find more contest entries --**

http://www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/community/The_Sandbox_Presents_Things_That_Go_Bump_in_the_Night/74379/

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No copying or reproduction of this work is permitted without express written authorization.©2009 Marie0912. All rights reserved worldwide.

**Hello, dear readers!  
This oneshot won 1st place in "Things that go bump in the night" - contest.  
**

**Ghost by Marie0912:**

"There. That's the last of the stuff from the van," Emmett declared while putting the box down on the floor and arching his back, wincing when it made a sickening cracking noise.

"Thank you so much, Emmett," Bella told him warmly.

She walked over to where he was standing and wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight hug. He chuckled lightly as she released him from her grip and pushed her away a little, putting his hands on Bella's shoulders to have a look at her.

"You know it was my pleasure, Izzy," he smiled and made her groan. She hated that friggin' nickname, which he knew perfectly well, and that made it so much more fun for him.

"Yeah, pleasure, blah blah blah," Bella said with a sarcastic giggle, rolling her eyes at him. "I'll bake you a batch of cookies and bring them over next weekend," she promised.

His smile widened and all of a sudden he looked like the little dimpled boy from their childhood; the boy who would jump up and down excitedly before each meal and almost cry with delight when his momma declared it was time for dessert.

Emmett was the Cookie Monster. All he lacked was the blue fur. And the way to his heart was through his stomach, but he was not a picky eater. Nor was he a picky lover. Until Rosalie came along, he would snack on just about anything female with a pulse.

"Oh, oh, oh!" Emmett suddenly began skipping up and down excitedly, and probably without realizing it. "Can you shape them into Halloween figures for the party? Like pumpkins and witches and sculls and _ghosts?" _

A gust of icy wind blew through the room from the open window, causing Bella to shiver uncomfortably.

_I don't remember it being so damn cold outside, _she thought to herself.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll see what I can friggin' do about it, you big kid!" Bella laughed, shaking her head while attempting to warm herself by pulling her arms around her and rubbing up and down for friction.

"You sure you'll be okay sleeping alone here tonight?" Emmett frowned at Bella.

He knew she was scared of the dark and not used to being on her own.

"Yeah. It will be fine, _dad_," she assured him with mock annoyance and began ushering him towards the door.

He gave his friend one final hug and stepped out, leaving Bella alone to unpack her things.

There were boxes upon boxes around the living room like an endless forest. She didn't even know where to start. So instead, she walked over to her new fridge, which she had conveniently already stocked.

"Where are you, Coke?" Bella asked, sticking her head into the open refrigerator and mentally cringing when she realized she was trying to make conversation with a soda can.

She grabbed the red can from way in the back, closed the door and stroked her fingers through the icy sweat on the metal absentmindedly, looking around her new apartment, unable to repress a sigh.

"Wish you were here, mom," she whispered, suddenly feeling very empty inside.

But when Bella felt moisture form in her eyes, she cleared her throat with a little more force than necessary, walked over to where her CD player was standing and plugged the cord into the nearest socket. She turned the volume up to its limit and began blasting Meatloaf 's "I Would Do Anything for Love" loud enough to drown her inner voice until she could no longer hear herself think.

An idea occurred to her when she took in the mountain of boxes on the living room floor for the second time. She smiled widely and let out a girlish giggle.

She then spent the better part of three hours putting things away and felt incredibly tired once she was finally done.

Bella walked into the bedroom and retrieved a blanket, her pillow and the comforter, and put them on the floor. Then she began putting the empty cardboard boxes on top of each other, one by one, making a fort.

Yes, she was twenty-four years old and she was currently building a fort in her living room with cardboard boxes and sofa pillows. And she was planning on spending the night in it.

Yet another hour later, the clock on the wall told her that it was in fact one in the morning and she was cruelly reminded that she had school in eight hours.

Huffing with annoyance, she stomped into the bathroom and was about to start brushing her teeth when the song changed and "Buses and Trains" began playing.

_Hey mom, why didn't you warn me?_

_Cause about boys there is something I should have known,_

_They are like chocolate cake, they're like cigarettes,_

_I know they're bad for me, but I just cant leave them alone,_

_So I walked under a bus, I got hit by a train,_

_Keep falling in love, which is kind of the same,_

_I've sunk out at sea, crashed my car, gone insane,_

_And it felt so good, I wanna do it again._

Bachelor Girl sang at the top of her voice and brought Bella cruelly out of her happy bubble.

"FUCK!" she screamed.

She threw her toothbrush at the opposite wall in a childish outbreak that resembled a tantrum more than anything else, and tried to ignore the steady flow of memories revolving around her mother. She got down on her knees to pick it up again, and that was when her heart stopped.

"_What are you doing in my apartment?!" _an icy voice roared.

Bella screamed shrilly and jumped to her feet, turning around to find who had yelled at her, so frightened that she was visibly shaking.

But when she turned, all she saw was the door to the bathroom and a dim light from the living room being blocked by her newly made fort.

"Who's there?" Bella whimpered and held her toothbrush out as a weapon.

But no reply came.

Scared beyond all reason, she ran from her bathroom and through the entrance hall, ripped the outer door open and stepped into the empty, cold hallway. Panting, gasping for air and feeling like she might wet herself any minute, she began banging unthinkingly on the door of her neighbour who held residence on the opposite side of the hallway.

Something rustled from inside the apartment after a while and then the door slid slightly open, but stopped at the security chain.

"Are you okay?" a worried woman asked Bella, frowning with concern.

She nodded frantically and closed the door before removing the chain and letting Bella inside.

"What's happened?" the woman wanted to know.

She was a pretty lady, slight and short, barely able to reach Bella's chin. She had dark, short hair that stuck out in every thinkable direction and pale, blue, friendly eyes.

"I . . . I'm . . . I think there is someone in my apartment!" Bella whispered.

Her concerned face suddenly became wary and she looked at the entrance door she had just closed as if she was trying to see through it.

"Let me go get my husband and have him take look," she said and left Bella alone by the door.

"Jasper, dear, I need your help," Bella heard her speak from the living room.

"Of course, darlin'!" a man's voice replied at once. A minute later, a tall and muscular man with blond hair, hazel eyes and a dimpled chin walked out, hand in hand with his wife.

The woman explained the situation to her husband and he quickly walked to the closet in the hallway. He opened it and roamed around before finally returning to the ladies with a gun in his hand. Together, all three walked out of Jasper and his wife's apartment over to Isabella's.

Jasper opened the door and called out in the dim apartment for a possible intruder, but of course, no reply came.

They looked everywhere in her generously sized flat, but found no one and soon they settled down in her living room.

"A fort?" Jasper sounded gleefully surprised at the discovery.

Isabella blushed, having forgotten completely about her new sleeping arrangement, but shrugged her shoulders lightly. She was not going to apologize for it.

"Alice, maybe we should offer Isabella a bed until she can have a new lock installed?" Jasper suggested.

Alice beamed up at her husband with loving eyes and nodded eagerly.

"Oh, I don't wish to intrude. I'm sure I will be alright on my own now that we've checked everything out," Bella objected halfheartedly.

She really wanted to take Alice and Jasper up on their offer. Jasper saw right through her poor acting skills, insisting she used their guestroom and that she would be no trouble at all.

Bella blushed at their kindness and finally nodded in agreement, thanking them profusely. She crawled on her hands and knees into her fort, retrieving her comforter and pillow, eliciting yet another laugh from her new neighbors, and followed them across the hall.

She had trouble falling asleep that night, scared silly and tossing in her bed, which was inconveniently placed in the middle of the room, exposing her back to an attack. Isabella had always been scared of the dark, and always made sure her bed was shoved firmly against a wall so she could face the entire room and observe her surroundings.

She woke in the early morning to Alice's chipper voice and Jasper's grumbles about the lack of coffee out in the kitchen.

Bella excused herself after thanking them both for their generosity once again. She retreated to her own apartment to change and get her purse before she had to leave. She pushed down the handle after turning the key in the lock and walked into her living room, suppressing the need to scream in fright.

Her fort . . . it was torn down. The cardboard boxes were all over the place, the blankets and pillows scattered around.

Someone had been inside her apartment.

And this time she did not hesitate. She called the police.

But, as she feared and suspected, they found nothing. No trace of a breaking and entering. All they offered to do in the end was to change her lock.

Bella called Emmett that evening, but did not tell him about the strange occurrence from the night before and the following morning. He would have marched over to her apartment the moment they hung up the phone and carried her over his shoulder back to his house. He would have made her sleep in the bed with him and Rosie.

And that would be weird beyond humiliating.

Emmett was like a brother to her. He taunted and terrorized her like siblings do, but he also loved her just as fiercely as a brother doe, and would never allow Bella to feel frightened if he could prevent it.

After she hung up, she finished typing up her paper that was due the next morning, turned on her CD player and listened to Celtic folk music while rebuilding her fort.

Alice came over some time around nine to check on her. They watched a rerun of "Scrubs" together before she excused herself and left, but not before placing a spare key to their apartment in Bella's hand, demanding that she used it if she felt the least bit worried. Bella thanked her profusely and hugged Alice hard before locking the door behind her. She looked down sadly at the key in her palm, feeling slightly overwhelmed with their generosity and knowing that she would never use it.

She placed it on the key chain that hung on a hook by the door and walked back into the living room, changing the CD from Celtic Circle to Melody Gardot's album "My One and Only Thrill." She crawled into her fort of cardboard boxes and sofa pillows, pulled the comforter around herself and fell asleep to the soothing, jazzy sound of "Baby, I'm a Fool."

_"What are you doing in my home?!" _

Isabella gasped for breath as the shrill voice screamed at her. Screaming herself, she pulled the comforter around her small frame and hid under it like a child would. _If I can't see you, then you can't see me, _was the childish logic behind her actions.

"Please go away. . . . Please go away. . . . Please go away. . . ." she whimpered under her breath, shaking like a leaf in a cold breeze.

_"Answer me!" _the voice boomed again, even more angry.

Bella began to sob violently and uncontrollably.

"Momma," she whispered under her breath between each sob. She was calling for her mother's comfort and strength in this moment, knowing full well that Renee was long gone from this world. But she could not help herself as she usually went to her mother for strength and courage.

But what was worse than that, she feared she might be joining her soon.

_"Who are you?" _

The voice sounded less angry, but that hardly mattered to Isabella because he was still in her apartment, screaming at her in the dead of night. If it calmed, it was more dangerous, it was more calculating.

So she remained silent, shivering under the covers and praying for it to be a horrible nightmare, trying to wake up.

Then the temperature, which had been moderately warm and very comfortable, suddenly shifted dramatically.

She was breathing frost visibly under the covers and was now beyond afraid, her shivers not only from fear, but also from the icy cold.

"Please go away," Isabella begged the cold, scary voice in a choked sob.

It remained silent, the temperature dropped even lower, and that was when she felt it.

The hairs on the back of her neck prickled and stood straight up. Goosebumps spread through the fair skin of her body. She had a terrible feeling that she was not alone in her fort anymore.

But she could not live with the uncertainty. The fear was overwhelming, but if she was going to die, she would do so facing her attacker, damn it.

Determined, she threw back the covers, grabbed her cellphone, flipped it open so the light from the screen illuminated the small space surrounded by cardboard boxes and looked around. She directed it to each of the four corners but . . .

No one was there.

No, wait . . .

In the corner to her left, something was.

"Hello?" Isabella whispered gently, barely able to utter a sound.

There was no answer and Bella stretched her hand out in the direction where she had . . . seen . . . felt something.

A thin sheen of what looked like glittering smoke hovered in the corner. Isabella squinted at it, trying to see better, but she could not make out any shape. She let her hand wave in the foggy smoke. It felt like she was holding it out in blistering snowstorm.

Gasping, she retrieved her hand and tried to pull herself away in order to create some kind of distance between herself and the scary substance. She felt her back hit the not so solid wall of her fort, the boxes giving in to the weight of her body. The entire thing crumbled and fell to the floor.

Bella got to her feet swiftly, grabbing the cell phone and determined to call Emmett this time, but before she could even begin to dial his number, the cold dissipated.

"_Are you crying?" _the voice asked. By the sound of it, he or she was somewhat appalled by the thought.

Isabella dropped her phone to the floor then, in utter shock. She automatically put her hand over her mouth to stifle the terrified sobs.

"_Please do not cry," _the voice begged her. The tone was not angry, not harsh or terrifying. Tt was soft, pleading.

But Bella could only cry harder.

_"Please, I beg of you! I do not wish you to be scared or sad."_

The tone was now not only pleading and desperate, but also soft and smooth, velvety and almost . . . seductive?

Bella took a few deep breaths then, trying to calm herself and regain some control. She kept her eyes trained on where the source of the voice had been, somewhere to her right and close to the bathroom door. She slowly walked backwards, carefully so as not to stumble and reached the opposite wall before she had anticipated. A small thump sounded.

_"Did you hurt yourself, miss?"_

Worried now, definitely worried. Bella could not keep up with the change in the mood of this voice, it changed so rapidly. And that was even more frightening than anything else, because it left her reeling, unable to anticipate its next reaction.

She decided it was time to stop pretending to be deaf and answer, even though her voice was unsteady and stuttering.

"N-n-no."

She reached behind her and felt around on the wall for the light switch.

"_A little further to your left and about an inch upwards," _the voice instructed her gently.

She moved her hand in the direction it had told her to, finding the switch there and flipped it.

Before her, catching the light from the ceiling, the same, strange fog was glimmering, hovering just above the floor.

Bella squealed in fear and automatically tried to create more distance between herself and the foreign smoke, stepping backwards and hitting the wall with a forceful thump.

_"Don't be afraid, child. I will not hurt you," _the voice cooed at her.

And somehow, she actually believed the statement. Part of her brain added a sarcastic No, really? What would you do anyway, fog me to death? but she did not speak that thought out loud.

"What are you?" Isabella asked shakily.

_"Excuse me?" _the voice demanded, sounding offended.

Isabella frowned and decided to rephrase, not wanting to upset the . . . Voice again.

"Who are you?" she asked gently, her eyes looking the glimmering smoke up and down, not exactly sure where its face would be.

_"My name is Edward Masen," _the voice, whose owner apparently was called Edward Masen, replied in a courteous manner, sounding like someone from a nineteenth century movie.

"Umm . . . Nice to . . . er . . . meet you, Mr. Masen," Isabella whispered carefully. "What are you . . . doing in my apartment?"

_"YOUR apartment?" _the voice sounded angry again and Bella shrank closer to the wall.

"Yes, this is my apartment," she repeated in yet another whisper.

_"Listen to me, young lady. This is MY apartment and I feel the obligation to inform you that you are overstepping your welcome," _Edward Masen growled at Isabella.

For a moment, Isabella could do nothing but gape at the mist in front of her.

"I don't want to argue with you, sir, but this apartment is mine. The lease is in my name," she insisted, slightly annoyed now.

She had bought an apartment with the money her mother had left her, wanting something permanent, something tangible to keep Renee's memory alive, and this . . . fog . . . this fog was pissing all over it!

"_What on earth are you talking about, girl? I have lived here since I moved to Chicago and that was five years ago! And, besides that, where is your husband? You are not within the rights to own real estate," _he declared with a slightly victorious tone that made Isabella growl again.

She narrowed her eyes at the fog, something she was starting to believe was a figment of her imagination by now, and informed him of something very relevant.

"What century are you from, you chauvinistic pig?! It's 2009 and I do as I damn well please!"

It went deadly silent for a few moments. Isabella was considering her escape routes when he spoke again.

"_Did you just hit your head, miss? I regret to inform you that it is the year 1917 and that you are very much ahead of your time," _Edward Masen's voice sounded shaky now and Isabella knew she had planted some sort of doubt in his mind.

"I'm afraid it is you who has got it all wrong, Edward Masen. Will you please leave so I can go to sleep? I don't like the thought of you hovering over me at night," she snapped at him.

_"I will do no such thing! Remove yourself from my presence or I will do it by force! I am not one to lay a hand on a woman, but I will manhandle you if you give me no other choice!" _Edward Masen growled.

And, maybe because she was so sleep deprived she was bordering on delirious, maybe because she had no sense of self preservation, she challenged that statement.

"Do your worst, Mr. Masen! I am terribly curious to see just how you will manage to throw me out of my home in the state you are in."

Yet another growl sounded. The fog shifted and floated towards her.

"_You really should not have said that," _his voice declared, dangerous and low.

Bella stood rigid in her spot against the wall, squeezing her eyes shut and waited for the impact, not all that certain about what would happen when the fog "attacked" her. But as she felt the room grow chilly again, probably from his anger, and the icy cold wrap around her, she also heard a loud gasp.

_"I . . . I'm . . . I am . . . Why can I not . . . ? What are you?"_

Edward Masen, the scary, frosty, glimmering fog, sounded absolutely terrified of Isabella in that moment. And because she thought it so ironic, she laughed at him.

"What am I?" she questioned, but didn't wait for his answer. "The question, Mister, is not what I am, but what you are," Bella told him calmly.

_"What I am?" _he repeated, sounding scared and confused.

"Yes, Mr. Masen. What you are," she nodded. "Come with me."

Isabella waved the fog towards her and began crossing the room, walking towards the closed bathroom door. She opened it and stepped inside, flicking on the switch. She looked behind her, seeing the fog float silently after her.

Knowing that she had this Edward Masen's attention, she pointed at the mirror silently.

Yet another gasp escaped him then.

"_Where am I? Where am I?"_

He was absolutely hysterical, and Bella felt fearful again as the temperature lowered dangerously.

"You are here Edward Masen," she pointed out gently, "But . . . I am quite sure you are not _supposed _to be here."

_"What do you mean?" _the fog whimpered.

Bella swallowed hard and then decided to explain her theory.

"I suspect that . . . since you think it's the year 1917 and that you appear to me as . . . fog . . . or smoke of some kind . . . and that it is in fact the year 2009 that you might be . . . dead."

She waited for his objections then, waited for the room to grow colder, but nothing came. She looked up to where the fog had been hovering in the doorway, but it was gone now.

That was the first night she dreamt of Edward Masen.

Three days later, Isabella had not seen anymore scary fog in her new apartment, nor had she heard the scary, yet velvety voice of Edward Masen. She decided to write it all off as a figment of her imagination.

It was Sunday and the upcoming Saturday, six days from then, Rosalie McCarty, Emmett's wife, was arranging the traditional Halloween party.

Isabella had known them both since middle school. Even though those two were an item before they even labeled themselves as boyfriend and girlfriend, they were inseparable. They had remained "just friends" for years, while Emmett was busy screwing anything female with a pulse and Rosie was busy getting engaged to, and wasting time with, Royce King, a complete asshole and, as it turned out, a wife-beater.

She was both physically and emotionally broken when Emmett had come to visit on impulse, having been gone for the better part of three months. He had come barging through her door at nine o`clock one evening in May, as he never minded with knocking on doors when it concerned either Rosalie or Isabella. He had found Royce kicking Rose, who was sobbing in a fetal position on the floor.

After Emmett had beaten the bastard up "properly," he had taken her to the hospital, sat with her while they patched her up, and never let her go since.

They were now all in their mid twenties, Rose and Emmett happily married and Isabella a . . . content . . . third wheel.

Alice Whitlock, her neighbor from next door, had been over every evening since that horrible night and watched late night TV with Bella. They were becoming fast friends, sharing happy childhood memories and easy laughs.

"So, what are you doing here on your own, if I may be so bold as to ask?" Alice said with a wink in Bella's direction and reached for the bowl of popcorn sitting in her lap.

"I mean, you are a college student. How can you afford this apartment? The rent must be miserable, and you're not even sharing it with a roommate."

Isabella twisted uncomfortably on the sofa, but her reaction seemed lost on Alice who stared expectantly at her.

"Um . . . my mom died . . ." was all Bella offered as an explanation.

"Oh! I'm so sorry for your loss!"

Alice threw her arms around Bella in a comforting and slightly suffocating hug.

"How did it happen? Was she ill?" Alice probed brutally.

Bella felt the tears form in the corner of her eyes and shook her head, biting her lip.

"She . . . she was . . . we were in a car accident. A drunk driver hit us. She died, I didn't," she told Alice with her back turned. "She left me a fair amount of money with her life insurance. She was always my safe haven, my steady rock. I bought this apartment with the money she left, wanting to create a home and eternal memory that way," she admitted with a shrug and wiped under her eye when Alice looked away.

"I am so sorry, Bella."

Alice patted her back. Bella nodded and looked away again, her face directed towards her cardboard box fort. And then she let out a fearful scream.

The fog. Edward. He was here!

"Bella, what is it?" Alice screamed too.

But Bella sat back down again, panting and trying to calm herself, avoiding answering Alice.

"I'm sorry, Alice. I thought I saw something," Bella lied and looked warily over to where the shimmering fog was hovering.

"Excuse me, Alice. I have to use the bathroom," Isabella lied and walked on unsteady, shivering legs toward the bathroom door.

"Okay," Alice replied in a small, worried voice and let her go.

Bella's eyes darted over to the mist. She shuddered as she walked across the floor. With each step she took, the fog hovered closer, following her. She opened the bathroom door and stepped inside, locking it and sitting down on the toilet with her arms wrapped around her. She watched, chills rolling down her spine, as the the misty smoke seeped throgh the door as if nothing was there.

_"I am very sorry that I frightened you. Again," _Edward Masen apologized in a shameful voice.

Bella stared at the smoke, feeling nausea and fear course through her, and simply nodded.

_"I am . . . I have been thinking," _the fog continued, "_and have come to the conclusion that you might be . . . right." _

He sounded so sad, so defeated and lost that, in spite of her blatant fear, Isabella felt her heart ache for him.

"I'm sorry you . . . are here," was all she could think to say to him, but regretted it instantly, because the fog, Edward, began seeping through the door with a whispered goodbye that sounded so defeated and regretful that panic rose within her.

"Wait, no! I didn't mean it the way it sounded!" she tried to calm him.

The fog remained hovering, hesitating.

"I meant that . . . I meant that I am sorry you are stuck here," she tried to soothe Edward Masen.

She was indeed scared of him, of this, but for some reason she could not shake, she felt almost drawn to him, connected to him.

"_Bella . . . May I call you Bella?" _he inquired.

Isabella nodded frantically.

_"I am so sorry that I have gone about scaring you. And so very sorry for the loss of your mother. I will not bother you again if I can help it," _his sad, velvety voice promised.

And as if that statement didn't tug hard enough at her heart, she saw him leave.

That was her undoing.

She began sobbing uncontrollable tears for the loss of Edward Masen. She was scared beyond comprehension because she felt so drawn to him it almost resembled gravity. And also because the thought of him aimlessly wandering this earth scared the shit out of her.

_He was already so lost. _

"Wait, wait! Please don't leave Edward!" Bella sobbed and unthinkingly walked right over to where the fog was hovering, into it.

It was icy cold, like last time, but not as scary.

_"You have no idea how nice that feels . . . the warmth . . ." _Edward admitted, sounding pleasured and shamed, all at once.

And as if to prove it, the mist she was surrounded by warmed around her, feeling slightly damp and moist on her skin. She sighed with pleasure herself, feeling the way he calmed and warmed her.

It was the strangest thing she had ever encountered.

"Bella, are you alright in there?" Alice called through the door, slightly worried.

_"Yes," _Edward Masen whispered seductively, making Bella blush. "_Are you alright in here?" _

His voice sounded challenging and playful, but there was an underlying, honest question there. Bella smiled and closed her eyes to better feel the mist on her skin, sensual and calming. She inhaled it, him, and shuddered with delight as some strange kind of electricity flowed through her body with that breath.

"Yes, Alice! I'm just fine. Just a bit tired."

Bella winked to the mirror where she saw her reflection: a brown eyed, brown haired, pale girl. She was usually so plain and ordinary. But now, wrapped in the essence of Edward Masen, she felt beautiful.

She heard his warm snicker and knew he had seen her wink.

She opened the door to face Alice, who stretched her back dramatically and told her she "ought to be on her way."

Alice left after hugging Bella tightly. Once the door was shut, she turned to face what she, in her head, had named "Essence of Edward." The fog hovered in her living room, lightly shimmering and damp. No longer chilly and cold.

They talked freely through the night. Edward left her to use the bathroom and promised her that he had his back turned when she changed from her sweat pants and sweater to flannel pajamas.

Only when Isabella began to yawn uncontrollably did they stop the steady, vocal flow.

_"I am so sorry, Bella. I am keeping you awake," _Edward stated, sounding regretful.

"Yes, but it's my pleasure," she countered and then blushed. Deeply.

_"None the less, you need your rest, young lady," _Edward insisted with a warm, seductive laugh that sent Bella's heart hammering and blood rushing through her veins. He laughed again, obviously realizing the effect he was having on her at this point.

Edward had been able to draw out the strongest emotions in her from the day the encountered each other.

He had scared her more than anything she had ever come upon, provoked her worse than even Emmett ever managed, and now. . . he had her pulse hammering hard with the simple sound of his voice. Neither Jacob nor Michael had ever managed that, even in the throes of passion.

"What about you?" Bella asked gently, fidgeting under the covers.

_"No. I do not sleep,"_ Edward confessed wryly.

"Ever?"

"_Ever,"_ he confirmed, but he sounded like he smiled.

"Oh," Isabella blushed and looked away then, feeling a sudden discomfort.

"_Do you want me to leave?" _he asked her in a rush, sounding embarrassed and ashamed of himself.

"NO!" Bella objected, maybe a little louder than intended and he chuckled again.

But this time Edward sounded nervous.

"_What is it then? Tell me."_

His voice once again sounded seductive beyond comprehension and she shivered, feeling the tingles spread through her body, from her neck to her toes to her navel, and ending in her sex.

"I'm-I-I'm . . ." She was stuttering and hid her face in a pillow. "I talk in my sleep."

She finally confessed. And was once again rewarded with his warm laugh.

"What's so funny?" she demanded, peeved now.

He chuckled again. _"I know," _was all he whispered, his voice laced in sex and close to her ear.

She had to swallow. Hard.

"You've watched me sleep?" Bella asked for confirmation.

_"Every night since the night we first spoke," _he admitted, but didn't sound the least bit sorry.

"Oh," Bella was blushing scarlet now. "Did you hear anything interesting?"

His soft laugh was all she needed to confirm it.

_"You did say my name . . . once or twice." _

"In a good way?"

It was a stupid question since she already knew that it was in a good way. All her dreams about Edward Masen had been good. Very good. Vague, but very colorful in their own way.

In her dreams, he had lots and lots of tousled silky hair, warm lips and intense eyes.

They were always in black and white, but the sensations were the same.

_"Yes. I should say so," _Edward answered with a smile in his voice.

"Oh," Bella blushed again.

_"Sleep now, love," _Edward cooed at her and Bella complied with a sigh.

"Good night Edward," she whispered gently.

Days passed. Sunday became Monday and Monday became Tuesday. Tuesday became Wednesday and Wednesday became Thursday.

It was the most heart wrenching, and at the same time, most wondrous experience of Isabella's twenty-four year old life.

They spoke about everything and anything; his life when he still had one, though he wasn't quite sure when or how it ended. They talked about his mother and father, his few friends and his medical career. Edward was, as far as he knew, thirty-three years old, give or take a a century.

The talked about her life and her friends, her love of books and food, but avoided to the best of their ability the topic of the strong bond that had been forged between them.

Isabella was falling for the voice in her head, literally, and she was falling hard.

She longed for him, to feel him, to see him, to hold him and to make love to him.

To a ghost.

To a man she couldn't even see.

Her dreams were becoming more and more expressive as her wants and desires and frustrations increased with each passing day. Edward never said anything, being the perfect gentleman, even though he had to listen to her animalistic moans all night.

When she went to visit her friends, he tagged along, whispered sweet nothings in her ear and growled whenever Emmett would make a comment too crude for Edward's liking.

It turned out that Edward's mist was invisible to everyone but her. Well, that or they simply didn't notice.

Friday, the day before the famous Halloween Party, Edward sounded distressed and upset during their conversations.

"Whats the matter, Edward?" Bella finally snapped, growing impatient with his glum mood.

_"I . . ."_

He sighed heavily and remained silent.

"Just spit it out, Edward!" Bella told him, putting her hands on her hips.

_"I have no right to make such a demand, but I do not want you to go to that party tomorrow evening," _Edward finally confessed, sounding both angry with himself and slightly dominating.

Bella huffed. "Well, it's a yearly tradition and if you aren't comfortable with that, Edward, then I suggest you stay at home," she said, having no patience with his early nineteenth century attitude. She did not want or need a chaperon.

Edward huffed, annoyed, but did not voice his opinion anymore that night.

She baked cookies and he complimented her talent for making them look like cartoon characters. Emmett would be delighted.

But when she crawled under the covers that night, The Nile was no longer just a river in Egypt. She made sure to point it out to the ghost hovering by her bed.

"Just . . . speak to me, Edward. I know we come from two very different centuries and that you are used to certain ways, but the times have changed. Deal with it."

At that, Edward laughed and Bella felt her body tingle yet again. That laugh did strange and wonderful things to her body.

_"I know they have, sweet Bella. But I feel very . . . protective of you."_

He sounded slightly scared to admit it and something in his voice told Bella that there was more than that.

_"I have never . . . felt the way I do about you, Bella. For anyone. There has never been any woman besides you, in my life or in my death. I feel very possessive when I think of the men at that party, drunk on alcohol and free of inhibitions and able to touch you the way I desire. So badly." _he whispered in her ear, making her shiver and gasp at his words, incredibly aroused and shocked and needful.

"You want me?" she inquired, breathlessly.

_"More than my next breath, Bella. Even though I do not strictly need it," _Edward confessed.

Bella's face broke into a beautiful smile, almost cracking her face in half, while she squirmed a little under the comforter, feeling the moisture gather between her legs at his words. Her heart thumped a steady, quick beat in her chest.

"I wish . . ." Bella sighed after a while.

_"Me too, love. Me too," _Edward agreed, knowing exactly what she was talking about.

And as she fell asleep that night, both their thoughts were centered around that wish.

If she only got one wish fulfilled in her life, if she had to sacrifice everything she had and owned, she would for the ability to see his face and feel his body, just once.

Both also knew that their time was limited.

Edward was not sure why he remained tied to this earth and knew that any day now, any minute really, could be his last with Isabella.

They tried to make the most of it, even though Bella was sure by now that if he disappeared, she would surely land herself in a mental ward. Never knowing that he had existed for real, never being sure that he had not just been a figment of her vivid imagination. . . . She needed proof, she needed something to tie him to her with.

She needed it for her sanity and for her aching heart.

So that was the reason she got up at six in the morning on the following Saturday, turned on her computer, with a frustrated and confused mist in her wake, wondering what the hell she was up to and annoyed when she didn't reply.

She searched the folk register and found a site that dealt with creating a family tree and finding lost relatives. She typed the name "Edward Masen - 1917 - Chicago" into the search engine.

_"Isabella, what are you up to?" _Edward asked her, beyond frustrated now .

Bella decided to answer him.

"Proving that you are real," she told him with a shrug.

_"Proving that I am real?" _he repeated, confused.

But the explanation came soon after. The computer flashed with a result and Isabella could only gape at the screen.

**_Edward Anthony Masen, born June 20th, 1892 - died May 2nd, 1917 from the Spanish flu._**

**_Educated surgeon and son of Edward Masen senior, founder of Masen And Son: a small production company that made silent movies, one of which starred the actor Charlie Chaplin._**

**_The company traded ownership in the late 1950s and sold the rights to 20th Century Fox, but the family are still stock holders._**

**_The Masens became Cullens in 1923 when Gloria Masen, Edward Anthony Masen's sister, married Theodore Cullen._**

**_The family still resides in the Chicago area._**

And as if that was not enough, a photograph taken on the premiere night of one of the movies the company had produced was displayed beneath the text, causing Edward to gasp out loud.

_"That is my family! That is me!" _he said. The room automatically grew colder, something that told Isabella that he was feeling very upset. She looked at the picture on the screen more closely then. In front of a movie poster stood four people, smiling politely to the photographer.

There were two women with long, wavy hair and pretty faces, natural beauty, curvy and altogether lovely to look at, their smiles genuine.

And then two men.

Both handsome, one was the spitting image of the other, father and son. Edward Masen was something out of a fairytale book, prince charming in the flesh. His perfect features were masculine, yet heart breakingly beautiful.

Angular nose and intense eyes, high cheekbones and full lips.

"You were beautiful," Isabella whispered with a slightly labored breath and blushed when she heard him chuckle.

"_You think I look handsome there?" _he teased as the heat in Bella's cheeks began covering her neck and chest, the scarlet deepening with her humiliation.

But she still confirmed, answering his question.

"Yes."

She sounded breathless and gripped the edge of her desk hard.

_"Thank you, Bella," _Edward said softly. "_But since we are making confessions here, I might as well come clean too. I think you might very well be the most beautiful girl . . . woman . . . to have walked this earth." _

Bella could do nothing but gasp at the ghost's confession and heard him chuckle with delight.

The rest of the day was spent doing more research, planning a visit to Edward's descendants, and frosting the Halloween cookies Emmett had ordered.

_"When you use those colors in the frosting, they kind of look like toys and not food," _Edward said, sounding disgusted.

Bella laughed as she painted the cartoon shaped cookies with orange and purple and black and green. He was quite right, she was probably poisoning the party goers. It could hardly be healthy to consume something that looked more like crayons.

By nine o'clock, Bella had finished her baking and was heading out the door, dressed in a beautiful, white dress embroidered with yellow butter flowers and a wide, green ribbon around her slim waist that ended with a bow on her back. She topped it off with green ballet flats, and a garland of daisies around her head.

She was Spring.

And Edward was rendered speechless when she came out of the bathroom.

Alice and Jasper Whitlock had been invited as well. Even though Edward didn't say it, he still was uncomfortable with the fact that she was attending a party without an escort of some kind. He did not say so out loud, but he was bordering on possessive and jealous at this point, and chose to remain at her apartment while she was gone.

Bella agreed with his decision, even if she did so reluctantly. She left the unnaturally cold apartment with a sad smile and a batch of poisonous cartoon cookies.

_"Be safe, love," _was his only request as she walked out the door.

"I will miss you," Isabella confessed silently, turning the key in the lock.

The party was crowded, the costumes scary and the booze free. In other words, it was not the kind of party Bella thrived in. Alice and Jasper had a great time, although slightly older than the most of the people there, they fit in nicely.

Rosalie was munching the poisonous cookies when she thought no one saw, rubbing her very pregnant belly with a gentle hand. She was dressed up as Goldilocks. Emmett was ecstatic about the cookies as well, and spent nearly half an hour entertaining a drunken crowd at the dinner table with a "puppet theater" starring a cookie shaped as a ghost and a pumpkin before he ate them both greedily.

He was appropriately dressed as a huge bear for the occasion and the more alcohol he consumed, the more affectionate he became towards Rose, whom he had named, very appropriately for the occasion, "Honey" and was decided upon eating her before the night was over.

Most of the people that heard that statement choked on their beverage while Rosalie blushed.

Isabella was already beginning to miss the voice in her head. Or around her head, what ever you call it. Edward's presence had a calming effect and she felt her heart ache whenever someone mentioned a ghost or haunted mansions.

When it was fifteen minutes to midnight, Alice gathered people around her on the sofa and was decided upon giving them a history lesson. Isabella sat down and listened more out of obligation than interest. Alice began speaking.

"Halloween has origins in the ancient festival known as Samhain, which is derived from Old Irish and is roughly translated to 'Summer's End.'"

People listened with half- interest, nodding politely.

"This was a Gaelic festival celebrated mainly in Ireland and Scotland. However, similar festivals were held by other Celts."

Isabella patted Alice on the back, trying to comfort her when a few people rudely rose to their feet and left. Alice pouted but continued.

"The festival of Samhain celebrates the end of the 'lighter half' of the year and beginning of the 'darker half.' It is sometimes regarded as the Celtic New Year. The celebration has some elements of a festival of the dead. The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the Other-world became thin on Samhain, allowing spirits, both harmless and harmful, to pass through."

As Alice finished her sentence, the grandfather clock in the hallway struck twelve and a chill ran through Bella's body.

_The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the Other-world became thin on Samhain, allowing spirits to pass through._

She repeated the words in her head over and over again, sitting rigid and frozen before she got up off the couch.

"Rose, I need to leave!" Bella declared.

Her voice was full of distress and Rosalie worried immediately that something was wrong.

"It's fine, Rosie. I'm just not feeling all that well. Tell Emmett I said goodbye, okay?"

But she didn't wait for an answer. She bolted through the door and tore the car door open, slammed the keys in the ignition and drove like a maniac back to her apartment.

"The border between this world and the next become thin," Bella mumbled to herself.

This could mean one of two things: If this was correct, Edward could either cross over to the other side. . . . Or he could cross over to hers.

Bella had never been a selfish girl. She had always wanted what was best for others, but in that moment, if she had to make a choice for him, she would have made him stay trapped in limbo with her forever.

She ran up the stairs to her apartment, two at a time, and dreading what she would find once she walked through her door. What if he had left her? Without even saying goodbye? Or what if he was still there, hovering in mist?

Or what if . . . ?

She turned the key in the lock and pushed the door open carefully. She took a deep breath and stepped into the dark apartment.

It was warm. Very warm.

"Edward?" she squeaked, her voice small and terrified, much like the first day they spoke.

But no reply came.

"Edward?" she said again, this time a little louder.

But still no reply. The apartment was still unusually warm and dread filled her heart.

"EDWARD!!"

Bella had not meant to scream and probably woke the upstairs neighbors in the process, but the fear and grief that gripped her heart then was so overwhelming that she couldn't keep it in. She fell to the floor and slammed her fists in hard against the hardwood.

"Edward!" she sobbed, cried, pleaded, cursed.

He was gone.

Her heart broke.

"Bella . . ." came his voice.

His voice!

She gasped, but was too scared to turn around and face him.

He sounded different, yet the same. Closer to her somehow.

"Bella," he whispered again.

This time, the voice was laced with love and desire, making her heart beat faster.

And that was when she felt it.

Strong, warm hands snaked around her waist and a hard, muscled chest covered her back.

She was panting, gasping for air, confused beyond comprehension and utterly broken and hopeful at the same time. She let him carefully help her to her feet and turned to look at her mist, her ghost.

But in this moment, on All Hallow's Eve, he was neither of those things.

He was a man.

"Edward," she choked out and let a gentle finger trace his beautiful face.

He swallowed.

"You are so beautiful," she told him, staring into his intense eyes.

They were a sparkling emerald green, breathtaking and full of intent. He looked like a man with a plan. As his eyes darkened and his feet stepped closer to her body, she knew what he wanted.

He wanted what she wanted.

And without asking questions, without over thinking it, without speaking another word, their lips crashed together in a fiery, feverish, needful kiss that all but consumed them.

"Please, please," Bella whimpered when she felt his strong hands travel down her back. They twitched and hesitated, his mind still in another century.

"Take me," she begged.

And Edward didn't hesitate anymore.

He scooped her up in his arms and walked her to her bedroom, putting her gently down on the bed and began removing her shoes. He was breathing heavily and his green eyes were dark with desire, making Bella's stomach knot in anticipation.

Only when she was lying on her back and some distance was put between them did Bella notice that Edward Masen, her ghost, was completely naked and erect.

She gasped again, her eyes traveling down his front greedily taking in every plane of his lean and muscled chest, all the way down to his sex. A well endowed man, that was certain, and he was ready for her.

"Bella," he whispered again, his voice sounding strained.

Her eyes met his.

"I want you," he confessed, seeing the silent question in her eyes.

"I want you more," Bella challenged.

Edward cocked an eyebrow at her and gave her a crooked, boyish grin that set her skin on fire.

"Impossible," Edward claimed and covered her still clad body with his naked one.

"Prove it," Bella challenged again, but not before letting out a breathless squeak at the feel of his warmth against her.

He grinned a heart stopping grin again and without further ado pulled the dress over her head, leaving her in a pair of white lace panties.

"You are just as gorgeous as ever. You have no idea what your naked body does to me, love," he groaned and then looked up at her mortified expression with a guilty half smile.

"You looked," Bella accused breathlessly, feeling the blush cover her cheeks and naked chest.

He nodded, biting his lip.

"I could not help it," he said and crashed his mouth to hers while letting his right hand travel down from her collarbone to her breasts to her stomach to her covered sex, leaving fire in his wake.

"Please, please, please," Bella whimpered, arching her back and almost crying with need.

His gentle kiss turned feral then. He bit her lip hard, almost breaking the skin and then she felt him tear the fabric of her underwear off her body. She gasped in shock, but the sound was drowned in another kiss from him, consuming her, breathing her air and giving her his.

Before Bella could even think properly, she felt his fingers where she desperately wanted some attention, probing and testing the waters, checking that she was aroused enough to take him.

He penetrated her with a finger, eliciting a loud moan and then inserted another, pulling and pushing and creating the most delicious kind of friction within her.

She was soaking now, she could feel the wetness down her thighs and his grunts and groans in her mouth did nothing to help her.

But when she thought she wouldn't be able to take anymore, feeling like she might combust, he removed his hand.

Bella managed to whimper at the loss of heat and friction and skin on skin, but that was it. Because the second the whimper escaped her mouth, he forced her legs open and penetrated her with his member. He didn't relent until he had filled her completely, and grasped both her hands in his, intertwining her fingers with his own. He forced her hands above her head.

Their mouths never left each other while he thrust in and out, but they only managed to exchange air, far too caught up in the passion and friction and love.

Her moans were soft and gentle at first, as were his thrusts, but they soon turned hard and accurate, causing the gentle whimpers to become loud screams. He pushed harder when he felt her reach her peak and his lips left her mouth to find her ear.

"Let go," he begged. "I want to see you let yourself go. Take what I give you and let go."

At the last word from his mouth, he slammed into her, hitting her most sensitive nerves and spots. She let out a a final scream, forming one single word.

"Edward!"

He came undone the very second he heard his name fall from her lips and roared loudly, releasing and collapsing on top of her.

"I love you," was his confession once their breaths had steadied and he had her wrapped in his arms.

"I love you too," Bella whispered back because it was the truth. She had fallen for a dead man.

"I have to go soon," he whispered after a while, causing Bella's stomach to clench and tears to well up.

"Will you come back to me?" It came out broken and hitched.

He hesitated before answering then, swallowing hard and hugging her tighter to him.

"I will always watch over you," was all he could offer, knowing it was not the same and not enough.

Bella broke then, cried harder than she had done even when her mother died.

"I can't . . . I can't . . . I can't . . ." she choked and clutched him tighter to her, knowing that once she fell asleep he would be gone, but still hoping her mere mortal strength was enough to ground him to this earth.

"You will love again, Isabella. I will be a wonderful and strange memory soon enough. You will not forget me, nor will I you. But you will love again."

His words were full of promise. She knew he was telling the truth, but they brought her no comfort.

Her sobs had steadied then, but her heart had not. She looked up into his green eyes and put her hand over his heart, trying to find a heartbeat and failing.

"One last time," she begged, tears blurring her vision.

"One last time. I will have you one last time, my love," and now his desperation mirrored hers.

He moved so he was between her legs again, kissing her slowly, gently this time. Savoring the taste of her, the feel of her.

As he penetrated her again, he went slowly, pushed himself deeper and hugged her body tight to him, getting as close as possible, becoming one. They came together once again and Bella was unable to fight it any longer, feeling her eyelids shut without her permission.

"Your momma asks me to convey a message, love," she heard his sweet voice speak in the distance.

"What?" she mumbled, too tired to open her eyes.

"To tell you that she loves you, is proud of you. That she is with you in everything you do. And that she approves of your taste in men . . . and loves the view from your apartment."

"I love you too," she mumbled back, to both of them.

And then, as sleep took her over, fate and higher powers brought her love to the other side, where he belonged.

**_Two Months Later_**

"Fine, fine . . . do what you think is best, I don't even care," Bella grumbled to an overprotective Emmett, contemplating whether or not to put something a lot more interesting than food dye in his Christmas cookies.

Alice and Jasper had become close friends with Rose and Em since the Halloween party. Jasper had taken it upon himself to become Bella's other annoying, adopted brother.

So, in dutifully big brother style, he decided to inform Emmett of the stranger in her apartment that had caused Bella to knock on their door in the first place.

It ached whenever they brought up the subject and Isabella would become irrationally angry with them for even mentioning it. They would all write her reaction off as fear and so now, a few days before Christmas Eve, Emmett had finally, finally won their argument.

Bella was getting a friggin' roommate.

She had agreed, but showed no interest in interviewing any candidates. So she left the entire process up to Emmett and Jasper, who took their task very seriously, since "nothing was good enough for their little sister."

And two days later, Jasper announced over the phone that Bella had indeed gotten a new room mate.

She didn't even bother with the name, hanging up before he could finish his sentence and spent Christmas celebrating with her father in Forks, Washington.

She came home some time after New Year's Eve and unlocked the front door of her apartment with a sigh.

The entire stay had been torture for Bella, not because her father was unpleasant to stay with, but because the constant friggin' fog and mist in Forks was about to drive her over the edge.

She walked into the living room and put her luggage away. When she finished, she walked into the kitchen and grabbed a Coke, letting her eyes rest on the huge pile of cardboard boxes in her living room.

The new room mate had moved in, it looked like.

And was probably in the bathroom or the bedroom or something.

The child in Bella won over after biting her lip for a moment, and she threw herself into the task of making a fort, smiling for the first time in weeks.

She was about to crawl inside when she heard something that made her heart stop.

_"What are you doing in my home?" _a male voice yelled behind her.

She screamed her lungs out and whirled around to face whom was standing behind her.

And that was when she fainted.

Because in front of her stood a man in his mid twenties with tousled, brown-red hair, golden brown eyes and a face that resembled the ghost of Edward Masen to the dot.

"Miss! Miss, wake up!"

Bella felt someone shake her shoulders and opened her eyes to the stranger again.

"I am so sorry that I scared you! Jasper said you had trouble with an intruder at one point and I didn't think. Please forgive me," the stranger begged her, making her heart thump.

"Who are you?" she whispered, the only question she could think to ask.

He smiled an all too familiar, crooked smile then and gave her his reply.

"Edward Cullen."

***-fin-*  
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**Thank you so much for reading, please leave a review!!!  
**

**Love,**

**Marie0912**


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